Leicester City’s matchday versus West Ham United was clouded by news of a COVID-19 breach from certain players within the squad. I’m not one for speculating, or even discussing off-field events, but this article will tactically analyse the importance of the missing players.
It’s been widely reported that five members of the Leicester squad attended a party at Ayoze Pérez’s house, after losing 0-2 at home to Manchester City. This is embarrassing as it is, but if you add some additional information such as; Rodgers specifically asking the players to behave appropriately, and with caution, ahead of the final matches of the season (which he did because of Çağlar Söyüncü’s positive test after playing with Turkey), to ensure the Foxes don’t replicate last seasons deterioration, then it becomes an even bleaker and disrespectful act from those involved.
Again, I don’t want to dissect the politics of it. I’m as disappointed as every other Leicester fan, and believe the players will atone for their misjudgement. But, what I do want to discuss, is how pivotal of a role the players involved have on the current Foxes system and why their absence predetermined the result for Brendan Rodgers’ side.
Leicester City have been plagued by injuries, like most of the Premier League has been this season, albeit edging closer to a fully-fit squad as the season draws to a close. At the moment, the Foxes are without a few key players – James Justin and Harvey Barnes, without referencing those omitted from the West Ham United matchday squad.
Rodgers decided, in the absence of explosive winger, Harvey Barnes, to shift away from a formation and structure that places an emphasis on utilising the wings in the final third, for a narrow front three – with the wing-backs providing the width for his side. It’s a clever adaption, and has truly been rewarded with stellar performances from Kelechi Iheanacho – and with Ayoze Pérez playing well in the #10 role (while James Maddison was returning from injury).
Removing the focus of attacking through the wings, as Leicester City lack a profile such as Barnes’, enabled the Foxes to reach optimal performances through shifting their creativity centrally. That’s why this COVID-19 breach is so detrimental – the two “key” players involved were Pérez and Maddison. Without either in the starting XI, Rodgers opted for a robust Dennis Praet – but his natural positioning and gravity created a flat midfield three (as he played more like an #8 alongside Youri Tielemans, than as a #10).
So, upon reviewing the starting XI against the Hammers, Leicester City had little creativity in the wings (as the wing-backs play deeper than a forward would), a pragmatic midfield, and a front two that lacked a connecting player to get them involved in the game. In all honesty, it was a worst case scenario.
Perhaps the most potent piece of evidence that the Foxes lacked a #10, was when Marc Albrighton was introduced – an all-action winger whose conversion to a wing-back has been fairly successful, and he played as the makeshift attacking-midfielder (filling the void between midfield and attack) and probably could’ve taken the Leicester City “Man of the Match” award playing only 30 minutes.
His receiving of possession in the centre allowed Iheanacho to maintain a higher “default” positioning in attacking sequences, and it’s no consolation that the Nigerian quickly scored a brace to make the score line much more respectable – if not, slightly skewing the perspective of the game (as Leicester City really didn’t deserve anything from the match – in my opinion).
It really is as simple as that. This Foxes side was crying out for a “playmaker” behind the front two, but instead of having a few candidates to choose from, Rodgers was forced into disciplining both of them and fielding an unorthodox 3-5-2/5-3-2 formation. This is no slander on Praet either, his profile is much more facilitating the players around him – instead of being the creative source, so it was always going to be a difficult game for him in that role.
After back-to-back losses, and being pulled even closer into the chasing pack for top four, Leicester City have a domestic break next time out. A trip to Wembley, a real chance for the club to make it to an FA Cup final, should hopefully cleanse the palate of a disappointing afternoon in the Premier League. It’s also a chance for the aforementioned players to endear themselves to the Foxes faithful again, as a few bridges might be heating up – but not quite burned.